Video may provide more answers
On Friday, a Commons committee will see, along with Canadians, the final video manifesto created by Parliament Hill gunman Michael Zehaf-Bibeau. It should answer a number of lingering questions about the Oct. 22 attack, write Jordan Press and Ian MacLeod.
Q Was Michael Zehaf-Bibeau a terrorist?
AOn Oct. 23, RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson told a news conference: “According to some accounts, he was an individual who may have held extremist beliefs.” But Paulson stopped short of officially calling Zehaf-Bibeau a terrorist. Four days later, testifying before a Senate committee on national security, Paulson changed his words, talking about Zehaf-Bibeau’s “jihadist views” and said, “I’m not persuaded at all that mental illness is driving these things. What’s driving these things is a distorted world view.”
In the three months since, the prime minister, Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney and other Conservative politicians have repeatedly cast Zehaf-Bibeau as a terrorist. The Opposition NDP has argued Zehaf-Bibeau shouldn’t be labelled a terrorist. The video will shed light on this question.
Q
What were his motives?
AOn Oct. 23, Paulson said Bibeau tried in early October to get a passport, apparently to travel to Saudi Arabia, but faced problems with background checks. Paulson said the passport’s delay “was central to what was driving” Zehaf-Bibeau and “figured prominently in his motives.” Three days later, on Oct. 26, Paulson said there was “persuasive evidence” the attack “was driven by ideological and political motives.” But Zehaf-Bibeau’s mother said it was mental illness and a drug habit, not an unholy religious ideology, that pushed her son over the edge: “He was mad and felt trapped, so the only way out was death,” Susan Bibeau told Postmedia News.
Q
Did he act alone?
AAfter the shooting, a grainy, undated photo of Zehaf-Bibeau holding a rifle and wearing a kaffiyeh scarf surfaced on a pro-ISIL social media site. It’s not clear how the site obtained the photo. Also after the shooting, police said Zehaf-Bibeau’s email was found on the hard drive of an unnamed person who has been charged with terrorism-related offences. As well, internal government documents obtained by the Citizen have outlined how police searched for additional suspects into the evening of Oct. 22. Police have suggested he acted alone, but there are lingering questions about whether Zehaf-Bibeau had any help planning the attack.
Q Why did he decide to shoot a soldier, then storm Parliament Hill?
APaulson has previously outlined how Zehaf-Bibeau took aim at Canada’s foreign policy, threatened the Canadian military and invoked Allah in the video he made before the attacks. The Citizen has also reported that Zehaf-Bibeau took a tour of the Centre Block on Oct. 4, two days after he arrived in the city. The video, along with Paulson’s briefing to MPs about the status of the RCMP investigation, could explain why the gunman decided to shoot Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, then storm Parliament Hill with what sources have told the Citizen was a plan to behead politicians.
Q What are the separate police investigations likely to have entailed?
AThe RCMP likely went frame by frame through the short cellphone video Zehaf-Bibeau shot, looking for any clues or anything of intelligence value. Investigators would have spoken to Zehaf-Bibeau’s friends, family, anyone who came into contact with him; they would have gone through his email and cellphone for additional clues to see if he left traces or connections to known terrorists; they would have cross-checked Zehaf-Bibeau’s name with American officials to see if his name came up on any watch lists; and checked to see if his name showed up in any other investigations. All of the above has been done based on Paulson’s public statements, and government documents obtained by the Citizen.
The Ontario Provincial Police, meanwhile, have yet to provide a report into their probe about the actions of the RCMP and House of Commons security personnel on the day of the shooting. A report is expected this month. That investigation likely has two components:
First, a primary investigation into the actions of Zehaf-Bibeau, police and Hill security staff on Oct. 22, from the time he pulled up near the War Memorial and shot sentry Cpl. Nathan Cirillo to his storming the Hill and then Centre Block.
Given all the security camera video and eye witnesses, there’s no doubt what happened and how it unfolded. There also will probably be some focus on areas where Hill security measures can be improved.
A probable secondary part of the OPP investigation would examine what the RCMP knew about Zehaf-Bibeau prior to Oct. 22 and what, if anything they did. The RCMP has said Zehaf-Bibeau was not on their watchlist of suspected terrorist supporters, suggesting they had little, if any, intelligence about him.
The questions then may be: Did they miss something?
Q What are the politics surrounding Friday’s meeting?
APaulson’s appearance Friday before the Commons public safety committee will kick off what’s expected to be the most intensive phase in an already intense national debate on protecting both national security and civil liberty.
More than 50 experts on national security, constitutional law, privacy, aboriginal affairs and more are to begin giving their views on Bill C-51, the government’s anti-terrorism legislation, to the Commons’ committee hearing from Paulson. The government says the sweeping changes giving CSIS, the RCMP and government departments new powers and capabilities is needed in the fast-moving world of post-9/11 terrorism. Critics argue many of its provisions threaten fundamental rights and create broad, unchecked state powers.
In the upper chamber, the Senate’s national security committee is to start review of Bill C-44, which would authorize the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) to surveil suspects outside Canada. It would also grant CSIS informants almost total anonymity, potentially excluding them from having to testify at any resulting criminal prosecutions.
The Conservatives are banking many of their re-election hopes on the package of proposed national security legislation.